15 August 2013

The world of Kicks Books moves lightnin' quick. This blog aims to keep readers hep to all happenings in Kicksworld. This week, as we approach the summer season's blue full moon, pronouncements abound. Read on to learn the details... Kicks Kindle Editions launch August 20 with Kim Fowley's LORD OF GARBAGE... ebook versions of Sun Ra's THIS PLANET IS DOOMED, Harlan Ellison's PULLING AN TRAIN and GETTING IN THE WIND, plus Andre Williams' SWEETS follow within milliseconds of the great GARBAGE upload... the word shall be spread by all means available... meanwhile, GONE MAN SQUARED by Britain's teen king Beat poet '58, Royston Ellis, will be the first Kicks Book to see release in simultaneous print and electronic editions. GONE MAN SQUARED appears in three different print editions-- as our traditional "hip pocket paperback", in a first-time ever dustjacketed paperback, and in a boxed, numbered special edition for which Royston has signed the limited dustjackets. As you all by now know, each Kicks Book enjoys a signature promotional fragrance. RAVE is the "World's First Beat Perfume". It is a poetic concoction packaged in a presentation box with an individual antique typewriter key as a nod to the paperback cover, which shows a young Royston Ellis banging away at his typewriter... you should know that RAVE was the title of our hero's second book, originally published in 1960, and seeing print again here for the first time in history... before summer's end, we shall present BENZEDRINE HIGHWAY by Charles Plymell... the hip pocketing of America occurs when Kicks Books delivers the earliest blasts from C.P... beat legend and true original... watch for it... now, dig deep into the the world of Kicks Books... latch onto all versions of and editions of the books and parfum HERE!

14 August 2013

KICKS BOOKS is an independent publisher based in Brooklyn NY, whose "hip pocket paperback" line reflects the pulp obsessions of its founders.

The rock n' roll and popular culture magazine Kicks was started by Billy Miller and Miriam Linna in 1979 and ran for seven book-length issues. An oversized photo book documenting the rock & roll work of Charlton and Good Publications chief photographer Eddie Rocco was published as the first the Kicks book. Now, the pocket paperback line is taking center stage.

Kicks Books are presented as paperback "talls" -- Signet-sized pocketbooks designed to slide easily into the hip pocket of one's jeans. The concept is affordable, portable, uniquely different fiction, biography, and poetry, presented attractively as bound printed matter, running the gamut of literary excellence.

Each paperback is also issued in a limited boxed edition, and a promotional perfume for each book is also available as supply allows.

Kicks Books is currently home to authors Andre Williams, Sun Ra, Harlan Ellison, Kim Fowley, Royston Ellis, and Charles Plymell, and is working with Randy Fuller and Steve Cannon on soon to be scheduled books.

Kicks Kindle ebooks will debut August 20th. Pre-orders are available now. Please search Amazon.com's Kindle selections by title and author.

Rumor has it that Kicks Books will move to adding a larger format to its realm. This will not affect its publication schedule of its iconic "hip pocket paperbacks". Stay tuned to stay on top of news from the little paperback house with the biggest books in pulpdom.

12 August 2013

As we all know, a sister scent accompanies each hip pocket paperback from Kicks Books. Our first Harlan title, PULLING A TRAIN, features a heady signature scent called, of course, Sex Gang. Now, with GETTING IN THE WIND, we bring you Sin Time, a nom de parfum pick-pocketed, or shall we say, hip-pocketed, from a featured story in GETTING IN THE WIND.

Our newfangled tradition of Pulp Perfumes has struck the fancy, and piqued the curiosity of a multitude of readers and scentualists. Reading, after all, is a visceral pastime. Eyeballs passing over a page of text can pull every sense to the fore, can raise the hackles, can cause a sweat, can bring tears to the eyes, can raise an army to action. With our promotional line of fragrances, we seek to amplify that physical reading experience with alluring fragrances that evoke the mood of each respective paperback. The scent of a dead-end cat house for Williams' STREETS, the fragrance of "Sally go round the pretty roses" for Tosches SATAN, evocative African nectars for Sun Ra's THIS PLANET IS DOOMED, a dose of sophisticated boom-boom allure for Ellison's TRAIN... and now a mesmerizing, derelict divination for GETTING IN THE WIND...

Each fragrance in history has had a story of its own, and unraveling the tales behind our own lost favorites may be of interest to KICKS BOOKS readers as well... for instance, The legendary Narcisse Noir was an inspiration here at Kicks Books in formulating SATURNIA, the Sun Ra fragrance. The Swinging Brakeman Jimmie Rodgers' love for Narcisse Noir was so serious that he carried a flacon in his hip pocket. When he needed relief from the oily locomotive odors, or from his tuberculine cough, a breath of the exotic.

French perfume would transport him instantly to a prcious place in memory. Another inspiration here in the perfume laboratories of Kicks Books is Salvador Dali. Few know that a perfume was created in 1958 in tribute to his 1957 painting Rock And Roll. The name of the scent? Rock And Roll of course! Let's take a look at the fantastic world of Le Golliwogg perfume next month, and other scentsations, as we launch the anticipated first Kim Fowley book LORD OF GARBAGE, together with its eponymous parfum Garbage.

Our in-house fragrances are extrait au fleurs - street-tested, pure floral essences- light moments of magnitude, created in the deliberate, lost tradition of tussie-mussies, flori-dori waters, and the language of flowers, when blossoms and their delicate scents conveyed suggestion beyond words, yet double edged with an attitude that tells the world OFF! Our perfumes are decanted in authentic Italian half ounce Baralan bottles, packaged in signature Kicks Books Co. gift boxes. We feel that our words on paper, combined with the elusive wordlessness of signifying fragrances create a world unto itself.. a place they call Monde Du Kicks... Mondo Kicks... Kicksville USA....

11 August 2013

ROYSTON ELLIS blasted into Britain's literary world as the ultimate teenage rebel poet with his first books, JIVING TO GYP (1959) and RAVE (1960). Ellis created "rocketry", reciting his poems to rock n' roll backing. In Liverpool, he was backed by a scruffy young beat combo called the Beetles — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Stu Sutcliffe. It was Ellis who suggested they change the spelling of their band name, and later became the inspiration for their hit record Paperback Writer. In 1960 he caused a nationwide controversy with his remarks on the teenage lifestyle in the television programme Living For Kicks. He was backed on television and on stage by Cliff Richard's original group, the Shadows, and by Jimmy Page, later of the Yardbirds, and subsequently, Led Zeppelin.Out of print for over fifty years, his first two books JIVING TO GYP (1959) and RAVE (1960) are included here in entirety, with select early works, many previously unpublished. His introduction provides a rare glimpse into the early days of British beat poetry and music. All hail teenage beat king Royston Ellis!

The Silver Beetles backed Royston Ellis when they were leatherclad greasers. In this rare photo from Royston's collection, he bids farewell to the lads, as he leaves Britain in 1963.

07 August 2013

CHARLES PLYMELL was born in a converted chicken coop on the high plains of Finney County, Kansas in 1935, during one of the blackest dust storms of that period. His father was a cowboy born in the Oklahoma Territory; his mother of Plains Indian descent. He dropped out of high school after 9th grade and drifted through most all of the western states, picking up odd jobs along the way. Heavily steeped in jazz, race music, and country, he ran the “Benzedrine Highway” between Los Angeles and Kansas City during the so-called hipster years that spawned the beat generation.In 1963, he located to San Francisco, where he roomed with Allen Ginsburg and Neal Cassady, writing, making films, and creating collages. He had a profound impact on underground comix when he published Zap Comix in 1969, his own printing press. Although he is linked to comic artists R. Crumb and S. Clay Wilson, and to beat poets including Allen Ginsburg, William Burroughs, Herbert Huncke, Neal Cassady, his own work is unaffected by that of his peers. Experiencing Plymell means taking a wild ride through his personal landscape, dredged in rhythm n’ blues, hillbilly holler, and the lonesome wail of the real America.

Author, artist, poet, publisher, and ultimate motorhead, Plymell has forged a path without giving up an iota of his attitude, creed, or spirit. He simply defies gravity.Plymell opposes the National Endowment for the Arts—he sees it as a politicized, unjust system feeding on its own mediocrity and self-contradiction. He has never received any funding from any federal, state, or academic agency to pursue his creativity-- this, despite the fact that he has engineered a poetic attitude that has never been duplicated.Now, for the first time ever, Kicks Books delivers a select stash of Plymell’s earliest hi-octane works in a truly hip “hip pocket paperback”. Catch white-line fever on the BENZEDRINE HIGHWAY with the irresistible, unstoppable, incredible -- Charles Plymell.

04 August 2013

KIM VINCENT FOWLEY (born July 21, 1939) is an American record producer, impresario, songwriter, musician, film maker, and radio actor. . He has been described as "one of the most colorful characters in the annals of rock & roll" and as "a shadowy cult figure well outside the margins of the mainstream." Kim likes to say that he was “hatched on the cracked concrete of cruel California,” and indeed he was. Now, for the first time ever, the music business legend lays bare his beginnings with Hollywood parents who passed him back and forth like a bad script. Kim learned to talk and reckon before he was out of rubber pants, and quickly discovered that he would have to make his own path in spite of the parental shortcomings. He was addicted to words and music at an early age, and wrote verse throughout his life, effectively organizing his ideas and emotions into a unique rhythmic shorthand. In the first of a three volume “hip pocket paperback” series, Kim Fowley recalls his early days as an unwanted child, as a polio victim (twice), as a teenage hoodlum, as a young cat in the California rock n’ roll scene, and as… a poet. Before beat was Beat, Kim Fowley was onto word warpage beyond compare. He took in Big Sur and Venice Beach and Eric Nord and Thelonius Monk, hardly knowing that he was ahead of the hepcat curve. Kim Fowley has never gone with a trend. He has always trod his own path, although his is one well-drizzled with every name in the music and show biz pantheon. His first record as producer was the iconic "Charge" by The Renegades, which led to a number of small label efforts, capped, in 1960, with Alley Oop by the Hollywood Argyles, which went to #1 in the charts. In 1961 he co-produced "Like, Long Hair" for Paul Revere and the Raiders. All of his personal stories and poems written in the days re recounts, are told in LORD OF GARBAGE, including his involvements with records such as Nut Rocker by B. Bumble and the Stingers, Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow by the Rivingtons, Popsicles and Icicles by the Murmaids and artists like Cat Stevens, Them, Slade, Soft Machine, Frank Zappa, the Mamas and the Mamas, and Skip and Flip. Beyond the dizzying assortment of names and records, is revealed not only the maker and shaker in the music biz, but a poet who dissected these daily chapters with a neat selection of word pictures that drive in the heart of the man and the matter.

KIM FOWLEY is (always)… outrageous, continuing to shock and rivet, now with his long-awaited epic trilogy of poetry and prose -- an explosive memoir/roll-call of also-legends who have, in the past seventy years, figured into the neon blitz of Kim’s deliciously demented life. Born in 1939 to actor parents, Los Angeles native Kim Fowley came of age while still in the single digits, forced to grow up as a footnote to his parents’ own Tinsel Town aspirations. A child of genius and neglect, he grew up with an innate drive to survive and thrive. His incredible storytelling comes to life in this first volume of his GARBAGE trilogy. LORD OF GARBAGE starts out with his earliest memories, and cajoles the reader through a brambled youth punctuated with disaster and success. Self-expression first took the form of poetry for Kim- rhythm and rhyme- the heartbeat of Hollywood’s desolate mayhem—pulses through his words with an attitude and honesty that few writers ever claim. In music, Kim’s solo work spans 28 LP’s and his production credits as producer and/or writer begins in 1959 with the blast instrumental “Charge” by the Renegades, which was followed up by the iconic million-seller Alley Oop by the Hollywood Argyles and the mesmerizing mega-hit Popsicles and Icicles by the Murmaids. His discography runs into hundreds of records, compositions, and productions on multiple continents, and he has earned of roomfuls of gold and platinum records. Kim comes into his own as an author with LORD OF GARBAGE, a revealing look into the life of one of the true giants of the American music industry.______________________________________

KICKS BOOKS DELIVERS A BOOK OF BLOOD (AND THUNDER)By Kim Fowley(One Of God’s MOST GROTESQUE BASTARD OFFSPRING!)Kicks Books must be gluttons for punishment for publishing Kim Fowley’s First Book of a 3 Volume series that features Sex, Death, Dope, & Violence as its basis. Don’t worry folks, Lust & No Love is also covered. Notorious for his Bad Behavior Kim Fowley has launched LORD OF GARBAGE from his Battered Loins to your Soon-To-Be Shattered Body & Soul. Expect yourself to be abused by these Terrible Tales of 30 years of Torture, from 1939-1969. Sickened by his Big Orange Childhood Damage. KF gets even on the printed page, with the Ghosts Of Hollywood, who left him for dead in The Vinyl Jungle. The Canyons of Your Mind’s War Crimes, will drive all you crazies wild. You can find Kim Fowley’s name on Liner Notes/Set Lists/& Label Copy of His works, recorded and/or performed by such Household Names as: The Hollywood Argyles, B. Bumble & The Stingers, The Murmaids, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Manfred Mann, The Seekers, Cat Stevens, Steppenwolf, The Byrds, NRPS, Flying Burrito Brothers, Sir Douglas Quintet, Kris Kristofferson, ELP, BTO, Leo Kottke, Stars On 45, KISS, Alice Cooper, Blue Cheer, The Runaways, Leon Russell, Dead Boys, Germs, Helen Reddy, Van Halen, Wayne Newton, Gene Vincent, Herman Brood, The Mothers Of Invention, The Seeds, Wildman Fisher, Soft Machine, Motley Crue, The Leather Nun, Nirvana, Teenage Fan Club, BMX Bandits, Them aka Belfast Gypsies= Minus Van Morrison & Guitar/Bass (Keyboard/Drummer remain the same). , British Lions (formerly Mott The Hoople Minus Ian Hunter), Rose Garden, 45 Grave, Venus & The Razorblades, St. John Green, Lance Romance, Jimmy Jukebox, Frankenstein & The All Girl Monster Band, Modern Lovers, Gram Parsons, etc. etc. etc.

“So What?” you might say. Can Kim Fowley write a book that a reader can’t put down? Of course he can. KVF= Kim Vincent Fowley. He has sold Creative Contributions of Music & Movies, in 110 Countries Of The World. For over 50 years.
The pages of LORD OF GARBAGE contain the Confessions of a Madman. In luxurious Prose, & dynamite poetry. Combining both Literary Disciplines, in a Book Format First.
Kim Fowley is NOT a nice guy. But, he wrote 3 separate books that are more interesting than he is. Completed & turned into the Executive Offices of Kicks Books… covered in Blood, Pain, & Tears. Don’t invite Kim to any of your Holiday Parties. He is no fun in a Polite Society Situation. He’s not good company, but his books will be, if you’re Empty, Bored, or Insanely Curious.
KVF Wrote this PR Announcement. Nobody, can put words in Kim Fowley’s Mouth. Once a Control Freak/ Always a Control Freak. MORE FOWLEY ON NORTON RECORDS:•ONE MAN'S GARBAGE (ED-355) •ANOTHER MAN'S GOLD (ED-356) •KING OF THE CREEPS (ED-384) Here is the NORTON RECORDS WEBSITE!______________________________________LIMITED EDITION GARBAGE PARFUM FOR HE & SHE!

Coinciding with the book release (LORD OF GARBAGE) is Kim’s signature fragrance GARBAGE, packaged with a morsel of authentic Fowley poetry garbage, and of course, a record spindle. The fragrance evokes Kim’s earliest memories of rejection and objection and is formulated with the mannish herb Eugenia Aromatica, ritually employed as an aphrodisiac and gossip-stopper.